


Something

by PrincexofxFlowers



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Butt Slapping, Dick Grayson is Robin, M/M, Secret Identity, platonic butt slapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-06-08 05:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6840496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincexofxFlowers/pseuds/PrincexofxFlowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or: The AU where Robin and Kid Flash do the butt slapping thing until Wally accidentally slaps the wrong butt which turns out to be the best mistake of his life (and the best butt).</p><p>"The strangled scream that the boy let out was not a sound Wally would have thought Robin was even capable of making and when said boy whirled around with the most scandalized face Wally had ever seen on a human being he realized that he may have made a few very poor decisions in the last thirty seconds. The only way he could have screwed up more would be if he had actually ran- really ran- over to commit what several lawyers would probably dub sexual harassment."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this prompt  
> http://wintergrey.tumblr.com/post/120449599106/oh-god-im-so-sorry-au-prompts-we-were-playing-a

Wally West was well aware that his best friend, a.k.a. Robin, The Boy Wonder, couldn’t tell him his secret identity. He knew this and accepted it, hell, he even tried not to be bitter about it. He understood the importance of secrecy- how could he not?- But he still wished he could at least know his friend’s real name- even a nickname!

All things considered though, he supposed things could be worse. At least Robin’s hero name could actually be a normal name- he could have been stuck with something like ‘Aqualad’ which, no offense to their team leader, was horribly ill suited to everyday use.

So Wally had found himself forming the habit of calling Robin by whatever name popped into his head whenever they were hanging out in the cave and he felt particularly indignant about not knowing his real name. Some of his favorites to use were Gregory, Alfred (which earned a rather entertained cackle the first time he’d used it so it stuck around), and Chad, the last of which Robin said was such a stereotypical jock name that he was almost offended.

And that sparked another habit. In retaliation to the jock comment, Wally had taken to smacking Robin’s butt in situations where he did something cool. It was totally platonic of course (at first anyway) and Robin had, instead of screaming like Wally anticipated, grinned and returned the gesture and that was how the two of them ended up unironically smacking each other’s butts as form of greeting or acknowledgement or- really whenever.

Of course Wally wasn’t always this introspective about his best friend (or his best friend’s ass) but he couldn’t help it when he was in Gotham City and his mind just buzzed with the idea that, somewhere in this city, was his best friend. He could potentially meet Robin’s civilian identity- hell, maybe he already had. There were lots of schools at the museum on field trips, his included, who’s to say Robin’s school wasn’t also there? Of course he wasn’t actively looking for The Boy Wonder, he knew the odds of them actually being in the same vicinity were incredibly small, but he couldn’t help but hope. 

It was at that moment that he heard a very familiar laugh. Immediately Wally’s head shot up from his (third) sandwich and he turned in the direction of the laugh. His eyes scanned over the people in the courtyard where several school groups had congregated to eat lunch until they landed on a group of three boys from Gotham Academy- he could tell by the uniforms- one particular boy Caught his attention. He was facing away from him but Wally could see that he had black hair and the smiles on his friends’ faces made him a likely candidate to be the person who laughed. Wally watched his back a moment more, waiting for some kind of sign or something familiar in his mannerisms, when the boy laughed again and Wally knew that laugh. It didn’t sound nearly as confident as his usual cackle but that was Robin’s laugh!

And here is where habit kicked in and Wally- who would in a few moments severely regret that his brain did not work as fast as his feet- ran over, placed a very solid smack on the boy’s ass and exclaimed rather happily: “Heya Rob!”

The strangled scream that the boy let out was not a sound Wally would have thought Robin was even capable of making and when said boy whirled around with the most scandalized face Wally had ever seen on a human being he realized that he may have made a few very poor decisions in the last thirty seconds. The only way he could have screwed up more would be if he had actually ran- really ran- over to commit what several lawyers would probably dub sexual harassment. 

The boy took two large steps back, hands flying to protectively cover his butt. His wide blue eyes seemed to show seven different kinds of shock and outrage and Wally was ashamed to admit that, under the very blatant intimidation and mortification he was feeling, he was very in awe of just how blue his eyes really were.

“I-I beg your pardon!” the boy stammered, heat crawling up his face in an embarrassed flush. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

“O-oh my God!” Wally had to make a conscious effort not to speed talk as he felt a blush spreading on his own face. “I am so sorry! You- you just look a lot like one of my friends from behind so I just- I’m so sorry!”

“Do you often greet your friends by smacking their butts??” the boy looked horribly offended.

Wally scuffed his shoe in the grass at his feet. “Um… no… Just that one,” he admitted.

Weirdly enough, the boy seemed less horrified at that.

“Come on, Dick, he apologized. Let’s just go now,” one of the boy’s friends spoke.

“Yeah let’s go. We can check out that exhibit you wanted to see,” the other one agreed.

The boy, who was apparently named Dick unless his friends had very strange pet names for him, seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he relaxed. “You guys go ahead. I need to deal with this first.”

His friends exchanged glances then gave a pitying look to Wally before leaving with barely a goodbye.

Wally gulped. This kid went to Gotham Academy which meant he was probably rich enough to have three lawyers ready and waiting to send him to juvie or slam him with some kind of horrible mark on his record or whatever they did to teenagers who accidentally slapped peoples’ butts because they thought they recognized them.   
“Uh…,” Wally began eloquently.

“What’s your name?” 

“Wally.”

“You brought a lunch I’m assuming, Wally?”

“Um. Yeah?” He wasn’t sure where this was going. 

“And where were you sitting?”

Wally gestured over to the bench he had been sitting on before this whole incident started. The boy in front of him nodded before strolling over and seating himself on said bench. Wally blinked after him in confusion for a moment. Surely if the kid were going to sue him he wouldn’t sit down to get his information. Sending a quick prayer up to whoever might have been listening, Wally hoped for the best (I.E. not getting sued) and then sat next to him.

“Soo…” Wally prompted.

“Give me half of your sandwich.”

“What?”

“I said give me half of your sandwich,” the boy seemed to be on the verge of giving some form of haughty facial expression.

“No way!” Wally needed all of his food- and probably more- to get through the long day his school had planned for their outing to Gotham City and the even longer bus ride back to Central. Then there was the possibility that he might have to go do something as Kid Flash and it all boiled down to the fact that Wally needed his sandwich. All of it. “Why should I??”

“What was that? I didn’t understand you,” the kid’s voice suddenly took on a ridiculously distressed tone and he went from looking deviously superior to looking downright miserable in a flash (pun fully intended). “I’m suffering from a lack of sufficient nutrition. Oh if only someone hadn’t slapped my ass and surprised me into dropping my own lunch, then I wouldn’t be in this terrible predicament!”

Wally gaped at him.

The kid opened one eye and looked sideways at him, a devilish smirk tugging at one corner of his lips.

Wally grumbled before handing him half of his sandwich. He hated this guy. There was no two ways about it. “You’re insufferable,” he muttered. “You’re not gonna like it anyway.”

The boy grinned broadly as he took the sandwich. “Why, is it something gross like peanut butter and tuna?” He took a bite and it took all of Wally’s willpower to not laugh at him when his face fell. “Oh my gosh, it is.”

“Yup,” Wally responded, drawing out the ‘e’ sound at the beginning of the word and taking a large bite out of his remaining half.

“Why?” he sounded personally offended. Good.

“It’s a great source of protein,” he answered truthfully. The kid didn’t need to know why he needed the extra protein.

The boy grimaced before swallowing and looking down at the monstrosity in his hands. To Wally’s surprise, he took another bite.

“So,” he said after he’d finished chewing, “This friend of yours-”

“Rob?” Wally looked over at the boy, wondering where he was going.

“Short for Robert, I’m assuming?”

“No, his name’s Robin actually.”

The kid laughed. “Is he from around here? It’s a very popular trend right now to name kids after Batman’s partner.”

Wally blanched for a moment. If only this kid knew how ironic his statement was. The usage of the word ‘partner’ caught his attention though- most people still said sidekick even though the team had been around for a while. He coughed into his arm for a moment, buying time to think of an answer other than ‘As a matter of fact he is Robin!’ Yeah that’d go over well. Batman would have his head.

“He’s too old to be part of that trend. He’s been around longer than Batman’s had a Robin.”

The boy scoffed. “You make him sound ancient. How old is this guy if you still greet him by slapping his ass?”

“You strike me as being too young to cuss,” Wally half jokingly admonished. Really he was just a little unsettled seeing such an obviously high class and well bred person using foul language; it was weird to him. “And he’s thirteen.”

The boy scoffed again. “Does your friend cuss?”

“Yeah but-”

“Then I’m not too young. I’m thirteen too,” he smiled like he’d just said the most obvious thing in the world.

Wally inwardly groaned. This kid was weird and Wally wanted to just skip the formalities until he got to the part where he found out if he’d be getting sued or not.

“Congratulations, pipsqueak,” he deadpanned. Really, where did he get off comparing himself to Robin? Sure the kid didn’t know that’s what he was doing but there was really no competition. Robin may be a little cocky sometimes and he could be hard to deal with but this kid took it to a whole new level.

“I’ll ignore that for now,” he said and actually didn’t sound mad, more like he was trying not to laugh. “But you never answered my question. Is your friend from around here?”

Wally shrugged. “Maybe. Why so interested?”

The boy took another bite of peanut butter and tuna sandwich. Much to Wally’s dissatisfaction, he looked less appalled at the taste with each bite. “Well I mean, that’d be an awfully weird coincidence: your friend Robin who’s probably old enough to be Robin living in the city that Robin helps protect.”

Wally internally tensed. “That’s an awfully specific ‘weird coincidence.’ You a fan or something?”

The boy shrugged. “Not especially. It’s just hard to live in Gotham without some form of curiosity about Batman and Robin. You hear someone talk about them at least once a day and after a while it’s just this constant thought process in the back of everyday life. Usually it’s all people want to talk about when they’re not from around here but you don’t,” The boy gave him a smile, Wally suspected it was the first sincere smile he’d seen from him. “It’s refreshing actually.”

Wally gave a nondescript ‘hm.’ This kid was definitely weird, but he hated him a little less for some reason. “Well living in Central with The Flash you kind of get the same thing so I guess I know how you feel.”

“Doesn’t The Flash have a partner too? Flashboy or something?”

Wally tried not to let his irritation show on his face (he was pretty sure he failed) “It’s Kid Flash,” he muttered.

“Ah! Right, right!” he laughed and Wally had the distinct impression he’d somehow missed out on some joke. “He’s pretty cool though, right?”

Wally tried not to puff out his chest too much. “I have to agree. The ladies in town love him that’s for sure.”

“I’m sure,” the boy next to him sounded like he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes.

“What? You think Robin’s better?’

The boy shrugged. “I didn’t say that. You came to that conclusion on your own,” he smirked. 

There was something infuriatingly maddening about that smirk. “Listen punk-”

“Dick.”

Wally blinked. “What?”

“My name is Dick. I just remembered I didn’t introduce myself.”

“Oh,” Wally said. “Um… nice to meet you?” he wished it hadn’t come out sounding like a question.

Dick nodded but Wally couldn’t help feeling like he didn’t believe him. Then he internally smacked himself because ‘Hello, Wally, you just met this kid there’s no way you can read his facial expressions.’ “You too.”

Wally raised an eyebrow at him.

“No, really. It was fun talking to you. Most people around here seem to be hesitant about really talking to me- comes with the territory I guess, but you weren’t. Thanks for that, Wally.” He stood up.

“Uh sure. No problem Dick.” And for some reason Wally found himself feeling a little weird that the conversation looked like it might be ending soon- not quite sad but something. It was probably because of this that when Dick turned to leave he spoke up. “Wait, what territory?”

Dick turned back around to face him, one eyebrow arched upwards like he had been making condescendingly endearing facial expressions his whole life. “Dick,” he pointed at himself. “Dick Grayson. That territory.” He smiled and waited for Wally’s reaction.

It took Wally a moment to figure out why that name sounded so familiar and where he’d heard it from but when it finally did click it must have shown on his face because Dick laughed- that frustratingly familiar and yet totally different laugh- and then walked away, leaving Wally gaping after him and sputtering for something to say.

\----Line Break----

“I can’t believe you smacked Dick Grayson’s ass!” Artemis gasped between bouts of uncontrollable laughter. She had been sitting on the couch in the cave when Wally arrived but through the course of the conversation (which was more like an ambush of ‘Wally, you won’t believe what I heard today’) she had fallen onto her side and was now clutching her stomach with tears in her eyes.

“Ha. Ha.” Wally deadpanned as he glared down at her from over the back of the couch. “Laugh it up, Arty.”

“You’re so lucky you didn’t get sued!!!”

Wally wholeheartedly agreed with her. Bruce Wayne was definitely not a man he wanted to get on the bad side of, but he obviously wouldn’t tell her that.

“You actually did that! That is a thing you actually did,” she crowed. “And in public too! This is too good, I’m sorry I just can’t be around you right now or I’ll never stop laughing,” she stood and made her way down the hall to her room and he could still hear her giggling to herself.

Wally waited until she was definitely out of earshot before he sighed and put his weight on his hands, leaning on the back of the couch. How the hell did she even hear about that? Honestly there weren’t that many people around when he did it.

“So I hear you slapped Dick Grayson’s ass today.”

Wally jumped and let out a rather undignified sound that was definitely not a squeak. He turned around to see Robin standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest and shit eating grin on his face.

Wally groaned. “Has everyone heard about that? How do you people even know it was me?”

Robin laughed before walking over to perch on the back of the couch. “You don’t just slap Bruce Wayne’s ward on the ass in broad daylight in Gotham and not have people hear about it. Witnesses saw -and I quote- ‘a weird ginger kid’ run up and smack him. I just also happened to have the information that students from Keystone High were going to be at the museum today on a field trip and really it wasn’t a difficult leap to make from there,” he grinned.

Wally shoved his shoulder and was only mildly disappointed when it had no effect on his friend’s balance (he wasn’t expecting it to anyway). “So I’m a weird ginger kid?”

“Do you have an objection to that description? I thought it was pretty accurate.”

Wally shook his head. “I’m not a kid.”

Even through the mask he could tell Robin rolled his eyes. “Sure you’re not, KF. Not like it’s literally in your name or anything. So may I ask why you decided to publicly assault one of Gotham’s most famous people?”

Wally gulped and looked away. There’s no way he could tell Robin the truth. There’s no way he could get away with lying either. Best to just switch topics quickly. “He’s a pretty weird kid himself you know.”

“Who?” Robin seemed, for once, a little behind the change in conversation.

“That Dick Grayson kid. He was weird.”

“Two weird kids. You’re perfect for each other.” 

There was something in his voice that made Wally look up at him- something he’d never heard before but it sounded an awful lot like the something he felt when his conversation with Dick came to a close earlier.

A silence stretched out between them and Wally could only stare into Robin’s masked eyes, hoping, like he had so many times before, that if he just concentrated hard enough he’d be able to see what color they were.

Finally he swallowed, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry. “Is it Dick?”

The silence weighed heavy on him while he waited for an answer.

“Is what Dick?”

“Your name. Is it Dick?”

And the silence doubled into tension. Wally wondered if maybe he’d made a mistake- if he shouldn’t have asked because, as obvious as it was that he wanted to know, Wally had never flat out asked Robin what his real name was before. Not for the first time, he wished he could know what was going through the acrobat’s mind.

“Honestly, Wally,” Robin spoke after what seemed like forever (though that might have just been because of the fact that he was a speedster). “Who names their kid Dick?”

There was a smile on his face that Wally didn’t quite get but he didn’t have time to try to decipher it before Robin hopped off of the couch and walked behind him.

“Anyway I got that new video game you were so excited for. Wanna try it?” The question was, of course, punctuated by a solid smack to his rear end.

Wally felt that something again, not as much but it was there, lightly tugging at him in not unpleasant but definitely not comfortable twinges.

“Wally?” Robin called and Wally realized he was apparently quiet for too long.

“Can we please not do the butt smacking thing for a little while?” he groaned. He was proud of himself for his cover- he wasn’t sure he was ready to discuss all of these somethings just yet.

“Hey, not my fault you can’t control yourself around people who apparently have great butts. Now are you coming or not?” The grin on Robin’s face was back to normal. It was nice.

“I could give you a two minute head start and still beat you back to your room, Greg,” he grinned back in response.

“Oh you are so on!” And with that, Robin took off, leaving Wally alone for two minutes to contemplate his day. Or he could just plan battle strategies for their impending video game duel.

That sounded much better.


	2. Something like Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Wally gets a taste of high society events in Gotham as well as Alfred's cooking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer to write than I thought it would sorry about that lol

The next time Wally West met Dick Grayson it was three months later as Kid Flash and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t tried to get out of the encounter. Unfortunately for him the order came straight from Batman so there was no avoiding it.

“Why do I have to be his bodyguard?” Wally wined to Robin after they were safely tucked away in the speedster’s room and far away from anywhere where Batman could potentially overhear him complaining. “Why does he even need a bodyguard??”

Robin chuckled. “Honestly I’m a little surprised that you’ve never heard of any of the times someone has attempted to kidnap Dick Grayson- let alone the successes. The kid’s a magnet for ransom kidnappings it just goes with the territory.”

Wally paused at that, the phrase striking a chord of memory within him.

“Besides he uh… requested you specifically.”

Wally blinked in surprise. “He did?”

Robin nodded. “Uh-huh. Since Batman and I are going to be gone that night Bruce said he would feel better about hosting the charity gala if there would be other superhero presence there. Then Dick Grayson suggested you and Flash.”

“He’s never met Kid Flash! Why would he suggest me??”

“And the Flash,” Robin pointed out and shrugged. “Ask him. Maybe he figured since you and I are tight that you’d be a good person to have around.”

Wally looked at Robin- really looked at him. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact- as much as he could tell through the mask- and his answers were completely normal logical answers; there wasn’t any sign of sarcasm or teasing remarks or witty quips. Wally wasn’t sure what concerned him more; the fact that Robin seemed to have something on his mind or the fact that Robin, who was usually so much better at hiding when things bothered him, was so absorbed in whatever it was that he couldn’t be bothered to keep up his bat-certified composure.

“Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

“Yeah I’m fine I’m just thinking about the gala.”

“Do you and Bats usually go to those things?”

“Always,” Robin answered automatically. He paused a moment before giving a quiet chuckle. “But we usually don’t have to actually do anything. The fact that Bruce specifically stated that superhero presence would be preferable is concerning. I don’t know what they’re expecting and I hate sending you into a situation like that.”

“Hey, it’s no big, Rob. You’re not the one sending me, it’s Batman, and honestly even though I’ve been complaining I’m really excited about this. I’ve always wondered what the hero business in Gotham was like first hand. Besides it’s not like it’s your fault that you guys can’t be there right? So just beat that drug trafficking ring extra hard and bring me back a souvenir,” Wally grinned and clapped a hand on Robin’s shoulder.

The younger boy tensed for moment, a flash of something turning the corners of his mouth downward before disappearing. He looked up at Wally with a skeptical look on his masked face. “You want a souvenir from a drug trafficking ring?

Wally shrugged. “Whatever you think is appropriate,” he smiled.

“Uh-huh,” Robin sounded amused. “Have you decided what you’re going to wear yet?”

“Wear to what?”

“To the gala?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I going to wear?’ I can’t wear my suit??”

Robin rolled his eyes. “Yeah that’d be totally inconspicuous, KF. The point is to not make yourself a target of attention. Aside from the fact that if anything went down the baddies would instantly know where to attack first, you’d have to deal with old ladies draping themselves over you all night.” Here he gave a shudder and Wally couldn’t help but wonder if he was speaking from experience.

“But I don’t have any fancy clothes! And what about my secret identity?? There’s no way that Grayson kid won’t recognize me without my mask!”

“Think you’re that memorable, do you?”

“I smacked his butt in public, Rob.”

Robin shrugged. “You never know. That kind of thing might happen to him all the time.”

“Yeah, and Batman plays golf on the weekends,” Wally scoffed. “I can’t go to this gala if I can’t wear my suit. I’d stand out by not being fancy enough so it’s either be ridiculed or be fawned over.”

“KF, relax. You don’t seriously think Batman would give you a mission if he thought it would compromise your secret ID, do you? He’s got your outfit for the evening covered and, as fate so has it, Bruce Wayne picked ‘Masquerade’ as the theme for the gala this year so you’re good. You even get to wear a mask. Were you even listening when Batman briefed you earlier?”

“He’s having a costume party. Bruce Wayne is having a costume party,” Wally deadpanned. “What so I’m supposed to dress up as a clown?”

Robin winced. “Maybe don’t joke about the clown thing in Gotham.”

Wally gave a wince of his own. “Right. Sorry.”

Robin shrugged. “It’s fine. Besides for stuff like this most men just wear regular suits and masks. You can borrow one of mine if you want.”

Wally pulled a face. “I’d look like Red Arrow.”

“Please make sure I’m around when he finds out you said that,” Robin laughed.

“I’m pretty sure he would actually try to kill me,” Wally said. 

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Robin agreed. “But Batman really is taking care of your outfit so you may actually get stuck with one of my masks.”

“I don’t like your masks,” Wally muttered. After a beat of silence he quickly backtracked because ‘woah who ordered the angst with a side of bitterness?’ “They look uncomfortable and it would be a sin to hide these beautiful green eyes from the world.”

Robin rolled his eyes, Wally could definitely tell even through the stupid mask, before he chuckled. “Sure, KF. Absolutely criminal.”

Which brought Wally to his current position standing in one corner of a spacious ballroom in some swanky hotel in Gotham, desperately wishing that his new suit didn’t fit him perfectly because then at least he’d have something to fidget with.

There were people everywhere and they were all wearing clothes that probably cost more than one month of groceries for two speedsters combined. As if that wasn’t enough, every conversation he had been engaged in all evening, except the one where he and Uncle Barry had introduced themselves to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, was so over his head he had barely avoided making a fool of himself with his unprepared answers.

He was feeling a little overwhelmed- heavy on the over.

“You okay, Kid? You look like you’re about to wet yourself,” Barry’s voice sounded through the earpiece he was wearing.

Wally immediately stopped shifting from foot to foot and hoped the mask he was wearing covered the heat he felt flood into his face. “How does Robin deal with this? These people are so-”

“Watch it,” Barry chided. “You’re surrounded by ‘these people.’ Robin’s had lots of practice.”

Wally grumbled and Barry must have taken that as a sign that he was fine because he didn’t say anything more.

“Have you eaten?”

Wally looked down and saw Dick Grayson approaching him. He knew it was Dick Grayson, not because they had been introduced and it was his job to know, but because Dick’s outfit for the evening did absolutely nothing to hide his identity. He wore a perfectly fitted blue suit that was a shade darker but no less striking than his very visible blue eyes and his mask was little more than silver lace that framed and accentuated his eyes and cheekbones. Rich people were weird.

“You shouldn’t talk to me too much. People will wonder what’s up,” he said once Dick had stopped in front of him.

Dick rolled his eyes. “I’m being a good host. And this is the first time I’ve talked to you since the party began. You’re clearly around my age which implies that you’re my guest; people would think I was being rude if I didn’t talk to you all night, especially with you standing over here like a wallflower.”

“I’m not standing like a-”

Dick raised an eyebrow at him and Wally had to remind himself that this was his ‘first time’ meeting the kid and he therefore shouldn’t throttle him.

“I asked Alfred to prepare extra food specifically for you and The Flash; he’ll be terribly offended if you don’t at least try it,” he said as he started walking over towards the table where the food was located, without bothering to check if Wally would follow.

Wally scoffed and trailed after him. “Who’s Alfred? Your butler?”

Dick looked over his shoulder and smiled. “More of a family friend but yes I suppose that is his specific job title.”

Wally gaped. ‘You have a butler??” 

“You are the one who suggested it I don’t see why you’re so surprised.”

If he had been off duty he would have sputtered and reached for some snarky response, but Wally was technically on the job- no matter how boring it was or how much he hated it- so he opted for silence.

Dick Grayson ducked into the door right behind the table laden with food- presumably leading to a kitchen- and Wally wondered if that was a sign he should wait before he filled a plate with the numerous tiny fancy sandwiches and crackers that were already in front of him.

Before he could say ‘screw it’ and get a plate the younger boy was back, pushing a small cart in front of him.

“Let you do the heavy lifting yourself, do they? Are you sure you can handle that?”

Dick rolled his eyes. “I’m spoiled, not incapable. And I’m not even that spoiled.”

Wally hummed at that, not sure if he really knew enough about the boy to agree or disagree. “So what’s under the lid?”

Dick gave up arguing the state of his spoiled-ness and instead grinned as he handed Wally a plate and then lifted the lids off of two trays heaping with food. There were sandwiches, and chips, and three different kinds of dip, as well as a large variety of crackers with different things stacked on top of them, and about thirteen other things he couldn’t name or describe but he was definitely going to eat anyway.

“Wow,” Wally said eloquently.

Dick smiled and almost looked a little sheepish. “They said you like to eat a lot so we made a lot.”

The use of the word ‘we’ didn’t escape him and Wally suddenly felt a lump forming in his throat. Dick Grayson did this for him. It was a little weird he supposed, and he should maybe think about being concerned about if he really was a superhero fanboy, but it was just such a terribly unexpected and sweet gesture that he felt something welling up inside him and he hoped his mask covered up whatever his face was trying to do because he certainly had no control over it at the moment. Actually he was sure the mask would hide his emotions because he knew for a fact that it was Robin’s but he didn’t want to get into that at the moment because there was food in front of him.

“Thanks, Dick,” he said and he meant it.

Dick honestly seemed surprised at the sincerity. He shrugged it off quickly before pointing to something on the tray. “No problem really. Anyway you should try one of these. Alfred makes the best croquettes.”

Wally wasn’t entirely sure what a ‘croquette’ was but he didn’t really care cause it smelled delicious and he wasn’t about to embarrass himself by asking. He had two of everything on his plate when he came to a pile of sandwiches. “Are those…?”

“Peanut butter and tuna. I hear they’re a great source of protein,” Dick supplied.

“That sounds really not good, dude.” Wally wasn’t sure why he said it. Maybe it was some way to test how much Dick remembered their brief encounter. Maybe he was trying to make it less weird that he was planning on eating these sandwiches before anything else. Maybe he just really liked hearing Dick Grayson talk.

“They grow on you after a bit. An acquaintance of mine introduced me to them. He’s quite fond of them I think.”

“You think?”

“Well I did say ‘acquaintance’ didn’t I? I have tried them though. They’re not bad.”

Wally took three and tried not to openly stare at the younger boy. “Right.”

Dick nodded. “Right.”

Wally didn’t realize they had been staring at each other for an awkwardly long amount of time until Dick cleared his throat and looked away. Wally convinced himself that the boy wasn’t blushing.

“Anyway I should really be getting back to the party. Mingling and all that. Do you need anything else?”

“Uh… No thanks. I’m okay.” Wally also convinced himself that he wasn’t blushing.

Dick nodded and then turned to walk away. “Okay. See you around, Kid Flash.”

“Yeah…” Wally walked back to a table in the far corner in a daze. He vaguely wondered what the something was that was fluttering around in his stomach because it definitely wasn’t butterflies. Wally West did not get butterflies for spoiled (?) rich kids.

When he finally made it to his table and sat down to eat (starting with the peanut butter and tuna sandwiches of course) he found himself feeling much more calm and much less fidgety. This was probably due to the fact that he had food now but he found himself more actively keeping track of his charge for the evening. Wally would later definitely deny that watching Dick Grayson move had a sort of enchanting and calming effect on him.

The kid was a pro. Wally watched as he expertly weaved his way through the crowds of people, always ready with a friendly handshake and a charming smile. He would spend just enough time with each person to make them feel special and included and then move on with a profoundly regretful look on his face as though to say ‘I would spend all evening with you if I could’ and Wally wondered if he had been played that easily. He would almost be bitter if he weren’t so impressed.

And then Dick got cornered by a gaggle of old ladies. He did a very good job of not looking miserable, even through at least two of them pinching his cheeks and ‘fixing’ his hair or straightening his already perfect collar. Wally almost felt bad for the kid.

They were close enough that he could catch about every three words and Wally gathered from the snippets of conversation that Dick was probably miserable. 

“You’re a darling-”

“Just so cute-”

“Quite the charmer-”

“Handsome little man!”

Wally tried to picture Robin in that situation- that shudder had just screamed of personal experience- and he found the mental image laughable. He had every confidence in his best friend’s ability to get the job done no matter what but he just couldn’t see him taking well to being patronized and fawned over.

“You know, my granddaughter just came back from traveling abroad and she would just love it if-”

Dick sputtered into a well-timed coughing fit. “Oh I’m- I’m so sorry ladies. My throat just feels very dry. I think I need to get some water.”

“Oh yes of course!”

“Poor dear, you’ve been talking all evening haven’t you? You must take care of yourself!”

“I’ll make sure to remember that.” Dick cleared his throat for good measure before politely excusing himself and making as quick an escape as was possible.

“Real smooth,” Wally snorted to himself. He watched Dick take as long as humanly possible to drink a small glass of water, clearly trying to stall having to go back out and risk getting set up with some old lady’s granddaughter again.

Wally felt a twinge of something settling in his stomach at that idea. He quickly squashed it out because it felt an awful lot like jealousy but that was ridiculous because he had absolutely no reason to feel jealous over the idea of Dick Grayson going on a date with some girl. It had to be something else- something normal like allergies or the plague or maybe he was still hungry. Yeah that was probably it. Never mind the fact that he felt an odd sense of satisfaction at Dicks blatantly obvious plan of escape in the form of coughing. He just happened to feel better when it seemed that Dick had no intention of going out with that lady’s granddaughter. Pure coincidence. 

Just like it was pure coincidence that he was out of food. He wasn’t going back to the table simply to talk to Dick Grayson, he was getting more food. 

Or, he would have if the front wall hadn’t suddenly collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't supposed to be a cliff hanger but I got to eight pages and realized that if I finished the whole part after this it would end up being about twice the size of chapter one and I wasn't too keen on that so I split it in half. I do have most of chapter three ready I've just got to figure out where I want the ending to go.
> 
> Anyway thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> That got dramatic real fast. I meant to have it be just pure silliness but I'm apparently incapable of writing birdflash without some form of emotional introspection.
> 
> My apologies to anyone named Chad. At first I was going to use Todd but I decided against it because of Jason and then as soon as I thought that I was like "I could use Jason!" and well we all know I couldn't do that lol  
> The peanut butter and tuna thing is legit by the way. My sister took an exam for ballet and the proctor told her that eating peanut butter and tuna sandwiches would help keep her energy up for exams and performances.
> 
> Anyway that's it for now! I have more planned (I distinctly feel like it's missing some things) but I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to write anything for it. Thank you for reading!


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